Jiaqi Kyki Li

Self-development

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As a dancer who has become very familiar and comfortable being on stage front, working on backstage was a great opportunity to expand further develop my scope of competencies when it comes to theater work. I was very glad to have challenged myself in taking up this work. I have learnt so much more about theater production such as how to change of lightings and co-ordinate with crew members to use prop in a performance. I can vision how these new skills will help me become a more knowledgable choreographer in the future.

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Creating Change

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It was somewhat unexpected yet, one of the most important competency I developed through this experience was how to appropriately advocate for a point of view. It was very apparent that the stage management team and crew members had very different view and expectations about the crew's knowledge and roles. Instead of stagnating on the realization that people think differently, I collected the popular opinions from the crews, evaluated their accuracy and emergency, and arranged a private meeting with the management to advocate for our point of view while listening to theirs. Through this peaceful and calm process of communication we successfully found a way to reconcile the difference through providing more clear instructions to the crew member. 

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Power dynamics

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Even though it was a school production, the internal power dynamics between different groups of people- the performers, stage management team and crew team- was a good resemblance of that in real life. I realized that working as a crew member meant learning to work as a supporter of the show. It also meant that I was expected to do most of the work assigned and requested by others. Through this experience I gained a new understanding about the unfortunate differences in the relative power of various groups in working environment.

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Responding to ambiguity

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There are many ambiguities in the work of crew members. One of the example is moving props. While the dancers and choreographers know very well about exactly how they want their piece to look like, there is often time a lack of communication about these to the crew members. The crew members are usually left to figure out how exactly to move the props through trail and error. I learnt to respond to ambiguity with either internal strength and trust, or request for clarification, depending on the specific context provided.

 

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Resiliency

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Working backstage is very stressful when every move one makes effects the whole show. It is even more stressful when the clock starts to tick at the end of rehearsals. The first several times the crews fail to meet the need of the choreographers, we were questioned about our ability to work efficiently. Facing the challenge, I did not give up. I started to become more attentive to the needs and really try to ask for clarifications when I got the chance. Through those stressful and frustrating moments, I developed my resiliency in facing stress and learning to take up the challenge anyways.

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Positive Attitude

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The first several times the crew worked for a piece that involved moving canvas to specific media projection on the correct timing was a disaster. We were not told when to move what where, yet when the manager stated "go", we were somehow expected to magically know where to move what. When the expected scenery did not happened, we faced criticism. Even though I received negative feedbacks, I decided to stayed positive and asked for help from the management in order to make things better. By responding the the situation with resiliency and positive attitude, I created the change I wanted to see and make the production run smoother.